Integrated star formation law revisited. I.

We use new and updated gas- and dust-corrected star formation rate (SFR) surface densities to revisit the integrated star formation law for local "quiescent" spiral, dwarf, and low surface brightness galaxies. Using UV-based SFRs with individual IR-based dust corrections, we find that "normal" spiral galaxies alone define a tight {Sigma}(HI+H2)-{Sigma}_SFR relation described by an n=1.41_-0.07_^+0.07^ power law with a dispersion of 0.28_-0.02_^+0.02^ (errors reflect fitting and statistical uncertainties). The SFR surface densities are only weakly correlated with HI surface densities alone, exhibiting a stronger and roughly linear correlation with H_2_ surface densities, similar to what is seen in spatially resolved measurements of disks. However, many dwarf galaxies lie below the star formation law defined by spirals, suggesting a low-density threshold in the integrated star formation law. We consider alternative scaling laws that better describe both spirals and dwarfs. Our improved measurement precision also allows us to determine that much of the scatter in the star formation law is intrinsic, and we search for correlations between this intrinsic scatter and secondary physical parameters. We find that dwarf galaxies exhibit second-order correlations with the total gas fraction, stellar mass surface density, and dynamical time, which may explain much of the scatter in the star formation law. Finally, we discuss various systematic uncertainties that should be kept in mind when interpreting any study of the star formation law, particularly the X(CO) conversion factor and the diameter chosen to define the star-forming disk in a galaxy.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/872/16/sample (General properties, UV and IR photometric data, SFRs and other properties of the (Tables 1-5))

Identifier
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/872/16
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/872/16
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/872/16
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/872/16
Provenance
Creator de los Reyes M.A.C.; Kennicutt R.C.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2020
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Cosmology; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Interdisciplinary Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics